Producing gallium arsenide crystals in space

The production of high quality crystals in space is a promising near-term application of microgravity processing. Gallium arsenide is the selected material for initial commercial production because of its inherent superior electronic properties, wide range of market applications, and broad base of on-going device development effort. Plausible product prices can absorb the high cost of space transportation for the initial flights provided by the Space Transportation System. The next step for bulk crystal growth, beyond the STS, is planned to come later with the use of free flyers or a space station, where real benefits are foreseen. The use of these vehicles, together with refinement and increasing automation of space-based crystal growth factories, will bring down costs and will support growing demands for high quality GaAs and other specialty electronic and electro-optical crystals grown in space

NASA's high efficiency and radiation damage solar cell program

The conversion efficiency and the life expectancy of solar cells and arrays were evaluated for space applications. Efforts were made to improve the understanding of the conversion of electromagnetic radiation to useful forms of energy. A broad range of advanced concepts were evaluated

An analytical basis for assaying buried biological contamination Interim report

Assay techniques for determining biological contamination of spacecraft material

Sulfate Reduction in Sediments Produces High Levels of Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter

Sulfate reduction plays an important role in altering dissolved organic matter (DOM) in estuarine and coastal sediments, although its role in the production of optically active chromophoric DOM (CDOM) and a subset of fluorescent DOM (FDOM) has not been previously investigated in detail. Freshwater sediment slurries were incubated anaerobically with added sulfate and acetate to promote sulfate-reducing bacteria. Ultraviolet visible (UV-Vis) absorbance and 3-dimensional excitation emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectra were measured over a five weeks anaerobic dark incubation period. Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC) of FDOM determined components that increased significantly during dark and anaerobic incubation matching three components previously considered of terrestrially-derived or humic-like origin published in the OpenFluor database. The observed FDOM increase was strongly correlated (R2 = 0.96) with the reduction of sulfate. These results show a direct experimental link between sulfate reduction and FDOM production, which impacts our understanding of coastal FDOM sources and early sediment diagenesis. As 3D fluorescence techniques are commonly applied to diverse systems, these results provide increasing support that FDOM can have many diverse sources not consistently captured by common classifications such as “humic-like” fluorescence

Policy Report: 2014 Indiana Dentist Workforce

Information on the oral health workforce is critical to understanding oral health system capacity and informing policy. Unfortunately, the response rate to the emailed version of the survey was extremely low (13.4%) as compared to previous years. It is unclear whether these respondents are representative of Indiana’s dentist workforce; however, these data, representing the most current information available on a sample of this workforce, are presented in this report

Proton pump inhibitors are associated with increased risk of development of chronic kidney disease

Background Acute interstitial nephritis secondary to proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) frequently goes undiagnosed due to its subacute clinical presentation, which may later present as chronic kidney disease (CKD). We investigated the association of PPI use with the development of CKD and death. Methods Two separate retrospective case–control study designs were employed with a prospective logistic regression analysis of data to evaluate the association of development of CKD and death with PPI use. The population included 99,269 patients who were seen in primary care VISN2 clinics from 4/2001 until 4/2008. For evaluation of the CKD outcome, 22,807 with preexisting CKD at the first observation in Veterans Affairs Health Care Upstate New York (VISN2) network data system were excluded. Data obtained included use of PPI (Yes/No), demographics, laboratory data, pre-PPI comorbidity variables. Results A total of 19,311/76,462 patients developed CKD. Of those who developed CKD 24.4 % were on PPI. Patients receiving PPI were less likely to have vascular disease, COPD, cancer and diabetes. Of the total of 99,269 patients analyzed for mortality outcome, 11,758 died. A prospective logistic analysis of case–control data showed higher odds for development of CKD (OR 1.10 95 % CI 1.05–1.16) and mortality (OR 1.76, 95 % CI 1.67–1.84) among patients taking PPIs versus those not on PPIs. Conclusions Use of proton pump inhibitors is associated with increased risk of development of CKD and death. With the large number of patients being treated with proton pump inhibitors, healthcare providers need to be better educated about the potential side effects of these medications

Repeated boundary slopes for 2-bridge knots

We investigate the question of when distinct branched surfaces in the complement of a 2-bridge knot support essential surfaces with identical boundary slopes. We determine all instances in which this occurs and identify an infinite family of knots for which no boundary slopes are repeated

Computer simulation of radiation damage in gallium arsenide

A version of the binary-collision simulation code MARLOWE was used to study the spatial characteristics of radiation damage in proton and electron irradiated gallium arsenide. Comparisons made with the experimental results proved to be encouraging

Comprehensive Strategy for Evaluation of Clinical Health Coaches in Chronic Disease Management

poster abstractPurpose: As chronic disease rises to the top of morbidity and mortality causes in the United States, improving chronic disease management, particularly at healthcare administration and patient engagement levels, becomes a rising public health concern. Clinical Health Coaches (CHCs) are an innovative role in primary care settings, collaborating with patients to improve patient outcomes. There is a need for best practices guidelines of the CHC role, as there is currently no standardized training program. Iowa Chronic Care Consortium (ICCC) developed a CHC training program which is being implemented in an Indiana Rural Health Association pilot program. This study seeks to develop an evaluation tool for ICCC training and its effectiveness in chronic disease management. Methods: An extensive literature review was performed on previous evaluations of similar health coach role implementation in chronic disease management. ICCC training was completed to further understand the training program. Results: A collaboration of the chronic care model and ICCC’s proposed CHC model was determined to be the most appropriate tool for evaluation. From these models, 5 key domains were identified including: patient engagement, self-management support, patient experience, patient satisfaction, and delivery system design. This comprehensive approach will allow for both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Discussion & Implications: These survey tools will be administered to both patients and CHCs as a part of an evaluation of ICCC training and its effectiveness. As a result of this study, the CHC program could be expanded to more primary care settings to improve health outcomes in chronic disease patients. Learning objectives: Design an evaluation tool for clinical health coach training in chronic disease management. Evaluate the effectiveness of clinical health coach implementation in chronic disease management in a primary care setting